as far as suggestions, i'm really looking forward to reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. He wrote Remains of the Day. This new book looks like it leans into believable contempo sci-fi/horror territory...

from Amazon

All children should believe they are special. But the students of Hailsham, an elite school in the English countryside, are so special that visitors shun them, and only by rumor and the occasional fleeting remark by a teacher do they discover their unconventional origins and strange destiny. Kazuo Ishiguro's sixth novel, Never Let Me Go, is a masterpiece of indirection. Like the students of Hailsham, readers are "told but not told" what is going on and should be allowed to discover the secrets of Hailsham and the truth about these children on their own.

Offsetting the bizarreness of these revelations is the placid, measured voice of the narrator, Kathy H., a 31-year-old Hailsham alumna who, at the close of the 1990s, is consciously ending one phase of her life and beginning another. She is in a reflective mood, and recounts not only her childhood memories, but her quest in adulthood to find out more about Hailsham and the idealistic women who ran it. Although often poignant, Kathy's matter-of-fact narration blunts the sharper emotional effects you might expect in a novel that deals with illness, self-sacrifice, and the severe restriction of personal freedoms. As in Ishiguro's best-known work, The Remains of the Day, only after closing the book do you absorb the magnitude of what his characters endure. --Regina Marler

sounds neato, eh? it comes out in Paperback in late January... whattaya think?

other than that, i know i've had Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman starting at me from my "books to read" table for some time now...

I've never actually read it and I know it gets a big mention in King Kong as well as Appocalypse Now and there must be other movies it influenced or film makers who used for reference... I just can't think of them at the moment.

Okay, after consulting with a couple people, I've narrowed it down to five. (not necessarily my picks, but the ones I thought most people would want to read) I chose 5 based on advice from John Locke, anything more and you'd wind up with everyone with two votes on it, with no clear winner.

i've already read Heart of Darkness a couple of times, but maybe it would be fun to revisit given that people are talking about it again...

(speaking of Heart of Darkness and the Apocalypse Now connection -- the docu Hearts of Darkness, about Coppolla [and his entire crew, basically] going completely bonkers in Cambodia whilst shooting Apocalypse Now is a MUST SEE FILM for everyone here; especially the aspiring directors inthe audience. brilliant, hilarious, and shocking... see it now!)

yeah, i think it's outta print now... you could probably track down a VHS somewhere... effing brilliant film! the footage of Dennis Hopper freaking out is priceless. and Coppolla essentially having a nervous breakdown on camera. its amazing. everyone who was there went completely nuts. and little Sophia was there! could you imagine growing up around that madness? it must have been both absolutely amazing and completely terrifying at the same time.

I suggest 'Love songs for passing strangers...', only problem being I only came up with the idea while I was taking a shower before I came to work, and I am very lazy... So you may have to wait a few decades...

alonzo..... my apologies you ho-bag! - banthafodderUK

...that was the funniest post I've ever read at AICN. Comedy gold. I'm stealing it and shooting it in nothing other than a static two-shot. - Kevin Smith

i voted "vengeance" cause i figure it has the best chance to have the coolest pictures in there... and i can't believe there are no pop-up books on the poll - when i was a younglin my parents bought this cool sex-ed pop-up book... i learned a lot - then i poked my eye out... oh well... i guess sometimes it could make you go blind...

DennisMM wrote:I went with Heart of Darkness because it's readily available most everywhere, it's brief, and it covers universal themes. Also, it can be an excuse to watch Apocalypse Now for Zoner Movie Club.

ah yes! i like the way your thinking... Apocalypse Now is my favorite film. and it's definately Coppola's best. ironically, it's also the project that broke his mind...

I'd have picked It's Superman!, but it's not available at the local libraries and no copies are available from libraries that participate directly with CSU. CSU Interlibrary Loan fucked me over. Whoever processed the book put the wrong "pull date" on the slip that accompanied the book -- the date the book would be removed from our hold shelves. Items are held for ten days.

The date written on the slip was the date the book arrived! The morning ILL worker shelved it. I checked the shelves, saw the book, and planned to get it after work. The afternoon ILL worker checked the pull dates on the ILL books and pulled it.

When I saw this I immediately e-mailed the head of ILL, but the book was on its way to the next patron, in another city. Since then I haven't been able to locate a copy that will be available soon.

I just checked the Prospector (participating libraries) list, and two copies are due next week. I'm ordering one now.

"If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all." -- Noam Chomsky